Luke brushed the hair back from Sydney’s forehead, gazing down at her as she slept in the hospital bed. Dried tear tracks marred her otherwise flawless complexion.

Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. The two-word phrase cycled through his mind like a chant, because the baby was fine. Syd was fine. Earlier, when she’d looked at him with those big doe eyes and told him she was bleeding, he’d had to force himself to keep it together for her when he was freaking out on the inside at the thought of losing the baby they both wanted so badly.

He had to keep reminding himself that she was fine. The baby was fine. Everything was okay. Sydney had worn herself out, worrying and crying and stressing. They’d given her something to settle her and had decided to keep her overnight because her blood pressure was higher than it should be.

Gee, I wonder why.

Then he remembered that Slim was still here, waiting for word about Syd’s condition before he left.

Luke bent to kiss her pale cheek and went to find his friend, who was right where he’d left him in the waiting room, flipping through a copy of People magazine. He jumped up when he saw Luke coming. “How are they?”

“Fine, thank goodness.”

“Oh,” Slim said, heaving a huge sigh of relief. “That’s great news.”

“They’re going to keep her overnight, so you can split. Sorry to have messed up your day. Send me a bill for the flight.”

“No apologies needed, and Merry Christmas on the flight.”

“Slim—”

He waved off Luke’s protest. “That’s the end of it. I’m so glad everything is okay.”

“Thank you. I’m glad, too. So damned glad. If anything ever happened to her… I can’t even imagine it.”

“I don’t know how all you guys do it.”

“Do what?” Luke asked.

“The wife and kids and home and hearth thing. It’s so fraught with peril everywhere you look.” He shuddered. “The thought of giving someone that much power over me… It’s frightening.”

Luke smiled for the first time in hours. “It’s also the best thing to ever happen. To be loved the way she loves me… There’s nothing else like it in this world.”

“If you say so.”

“When I saw you with Erin at Jenny and Alex’s wedding, I thought maybe something might come of that. The sparks were flying. Everyone saw it.”

“Something has come of it. I’m spending the holidays with her at the lighthouse.”

“Oh, wow, I hadn’t heard that.”

“It was just decided this morning.”

“I hate to tell you, but spending the holidays with a woman smacks of serious.”

“It does not. We’re hanging out, having fun.”